6.3 Union with Christ
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Christ, I have been crucified with. I live, however, but no longer I. Christ {Himself in Person} lives inside all that is me. More than that, the life I now live inside this sphere of flesh {flesh of His flesh – see Ephesians 5:30-31}, I live entirely inside of the faith of the Son of God, this one having loved me and having given Himself [traded Himself] entirely for me (Galatians 2:20).
Let me give you the same thing in the New King James’ wording, with bits from the King James. – I have been (I am) crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, (nevertheless I live, yet not I,) but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by (the faith of) the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Christ, Not “I.” To step through the Cross is to step into Christ, into all that Christ is, living now as you. It’s no longer you; it’s Christ. – Christ who is our life (Colossians 3:4).
Jesus is not just living in your heart; He is also living out from your heart as you. You are already an expression of the Lord Jesus, just as you find yourself to be. In this love has been perfected, brought to full completion fused together with us, that we [together] might have boldness to speak [Christ our life] inside the [to]day of judgment, that just exactly as He is, so also are we in this present world (1 John 4:17).
Union with Jesus. As Jesus is, right now, so also are we inside our daily life. It’s no longer “I” who lives, but Christ. – According to John and Paul, you are Christ Jesus now living as you.
I want to talk about your union with the Lord Jesus Christ. But first, what it is not. There is no such thing as a union with “Christ” that is in any way separate from Jesus in Person.
Remember our first and continuous rule, that we know nothing apart from Jesus Himself living inside our hearts. There is no “Christ” separate from Jesus; apart from Him we are and can do nothing (John 15:5). Let’s paraphrase Paul’s words. “It’s me, yet it’s Christ, yet it’s me, yet it’s Christ. Jesus and I utterly entwined together, two walking as one.”
Continual Present Tense. Let’s start with the last part of Galatians 2:20, as in the NKJV. …the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. But John said that we are as He is NOW. Paul was referring to an historical action, but John brings that same thing as an all here now Christ Jesus in us today.
This means that, to know Jesus as He is today, we bring every past tense action and verb regarding Jesus into the present progressive tense, that is, continual present tense. The Son of God, who IS LOVING me right now and who IS GIVING Himself for me, for my sake, right now.
Yet Paul is also taking us back to Gethsemane, to that all-here-now moment when Jesus agrees to receive you into Himself, to become all that you are, that you might be all that He is.
The Plant In-Between. Unless a grain of wheat is planted into the ground and dies {in outward appearance}, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain {brings forth many more just like itself} (John 12:24). Jesus is the One Seed of God; you are the ground into which He is planted, Jesus living in your heart. The goal of the gospel, God’s intention towards you, is that you be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many brethren.
But think about the in-between. When the seed is planted in the earth, it does not instantly become many seeds. Rather, it becomes something that appears entirely different. The seed becomes the plant.
Jesus as You. On the Day of Pentecost, Jesus entered into and became His Church. When you asked Jesus into your heart, the One Seed of God was planted in you and became you. You are the plant, the present form in-between Seed and seeds.
In the resurrection, you will be outwardly, in all appearance, the revelation of Jesus Christ through you – many sons to glory (Hebrews 2). But right now you are the same weak and incapable human you have always been, stumbling and foolish, outwardly so “contrary” to what Jesus “should look like.” But the proof of Christ is not Jesus “in glory.” The proof of Christ is Jesus in you. – That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Corinthians 4:11).
Trading Soul for Soul. The Son of God who continuously gives Himself for me. The word “for” in the Greek is huper, which means for the sake of, but which also includes the sense of a trade, that Jesus trades Himself for me and me for Himself.
Jesus is continuously giving you His story of self to be your own story, and Jesus is continuously taking upon Himself your story of self as His very own. Your soul and Jesus’ soul are merged entirely together. And this is how we understand the next thing Jesus said. He who loves {keeps as his own} his soul [his story of self] will lose it, and he who hates {trades for another} his soul [his story of self] in this world will keep it into the age (John 12:25).
Inside the Sphere of Flesh. There is only one way for you to “lose” your own soul, your own story of self, and that is to give it to another, that all that you are belongs to Jesus alone. Only then do you find your true self, Jesus, now living as you. But how does this work in practical daily life? How do you KNOW your own personal union with Christ?
The life I now live inside this sphere of flesh {flesh of His flesh}, I live entirely inside of the faith of the Son of God. It’s not your faith that keeps you, but Jesus’ faith in you. All that you are is Jesus; He is all there is inside of you. Christ is your life, your soul, your story; you have no other life.
Jesus’ Own Story of Self. Here is the greatest surrender to God you will ever know, to accept that Jesus is now living as you, that He is entirely responsible for you, for all that you find yourself to be. You are only and always the expression of Jesus, His own story of self, in and through your mortal flesh. You are the flesh of Christ (Ephesians 5:30-31).
But what about your sin and your present wicked actions?
For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, for our sakes [to trade], that we might be the righteousness of God inside of Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the present, continuous, on-going action of Jesus inside of you, bringing all that you are entirely into Himself and He into you.
The Living Scapegoat. On the Day of Atonement, two goats were offered for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16). One goat was sacrificed as the sins of the people already committed, and the other goat lived as the scapegoat, carrying inside itself all their ongoing sinfulness, far away from them.
There are only two places for your present sinfulness and your ongoing wicked actions. Either you carry them upon yourself, in the horror of living in Romans 7:7-25, as if you are separate from Jesus. Or you place them entirely upon Jesus, that He might carry all of your present mistakes and foolishness inside that special room inside Himself – His EMPTY grave, where no sins exist.
Carried in an Empty Grave. Therefore, we were buried together with Him through immersion into death, that just as Christ was raised out from the dead through the glory of Father, so inside of newness of life we also should walk (Romans 6:5). Walking inside of newness of life right now is walking in the full surrender into Jesus that He is now living as us, utterly responsible for all that we are, our living scapegoat.
Finally, we come to the faith of the Son of God inside of our entire sphere of flesh. Our flesh is His flesh. – of His flesh and of His bones… one flesh with Him (Ephesians 5:30-31). Before you can know how Jesus shares His faith with you as the definition of your present life in a body of flesh, you must know a bit more about what faith is.
Seeing Christ Alone. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus gave us a parable to help us to understand this quality of faith. – The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light (Luke 11:34). For your eye to be “single,” you must see Christ alone, and in seeing Christ alone, all that you are in your present body of flesh is Christ.
“This that I am experiencing is You, Jesus, sharing of Yourself with me.”
The faith of Jesus in you does not “see” outward human failure, but only Christ as you. And thus you never judge yourself by your feelings or by human judgement, but only as Christ.
Speak Out Loud. “Jesus, this frustration is Your frustration, sharing Yourself with me.” – “Yes, My dear one, I am sharing My own human difficulty with you. Can we place our shared frustration into our Father’s love?” – “Yes, Jesus, that is the only place it belongs.”
“Jesus, this sin is your sin, dead upon the cross and buried in an empty grave. This shame is Your shame; this mistake is Your mistake. You alone are responsible for all that is me.”
Yet faith also sees the full and complete trade, soul for soul, life for life.
“Jesus, Your glory is my glory, the story of my life. Your victory is my victory, my every step in God. Your love is my love, pouring forth from my heart. Your life is my life, the only life I am.”
“Jesus, You are all I find myself to be, and all that I am is You.”
The Points at the Heart. The next three points are the heart of knowing Jesus as he is. Know these things as your very life.
16. Everything is already finished. God never speaks anything that is not already fulfilled and completed inside Himself. Just as God exists as complete in Himself, so, in the same way, every Word He speaks exists fulfilled.
17. The Cross is absolute and complete. Every element of the old creation has already perished in totality upon the cross. The cross is our doorway into Christ; the cross is our protector from all sin and death.
18. Complete and present union with Christ, Jesus living as us, is the only age-unfolding life. The Lord Jesus gives us all that He is inside of all that we are and takes all that we are into Himself as His own.